Trauma-specific services directly address trauma and its impact and facilitate trauma recovery. An increasing number of promising and evidence-based practices address PTSD and other consequences of trauma, especially for people who often bring other complicating vulnerabilities (e.g., substance use, severe mental health problems, homelessness, contact with the criminal justice system) to the service setting. The Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM) group intervention was developed at Community Connections in the 1990s by clinicians led by Dr. Maxine Harris. In the years since then, more than 1500 clinicians in over twenty states have been trained in this model. Based in both clinical experience and the research literature, TREM has become one of the major trauma recovery interventions for women. (See http://nrepp.samhsa.gov regarding its evidence base.)

The Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM) is an evidence-based, clinically tested and manualized group intervention. Designed to help members develop and strengthen the skills necessary to effective coping with the impact of traumatic experiences, it draws primarily on psychoeducational and cognitive-behavioral techniques in an actively supportive group context. Originally developed at Community Connections by clinicians led by Maxine Harris, Ph.D., (Trauma Recovery and Empowerment: A Clinician’s Guide for Working with Women in Groups, The Free Press, 1998), distinct versions tailored to the specific concerns of male trauma survivors and of adolescent female trauma survivors have been finalized.

Training is available for clinicians in the use of:

Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model for Women (TREM)

TREM for Male Survivors (M-TREM)

TREM for Adolescent Girls (Love and Life: G-TREM)

To learn more about the Community Connections consultation and training services, contact Rebecca Wolfson Berley, MSW, Director of Trauma Education at (202) 608-4735 or rwolfson@ccdc1.org.